Liberal Excuses

A compleat roster of liberal excuses would require many volumes, or perhaps even an open-ended architecture like Wikipedia. (Maybe Power Line will start a reader-generated WikiLiberalism?) But there are a couple of items worthy of special note at the moment.

First, James Taranto of the indispensable “Best of the Web” catches former Enron adviser Paul Krugman in an egregious instance of partisan hackery (Krugchild’s normal mode):

“Here’s the world as many Republicans see it: Unemployment insurance, which generally pays eligible workers between 40 and 50 percent of their previous pay, reduces the incentive to search for a new job. As a result, the story goes, workers stay unemployed longer.”–former Enron adviser Paul Krugman, New York Times, Dec. 9

“Public policy designed to help workers who lose their jobs can lead to structural unemployment as an unintended side effect. . . . In other countries, particularly in Europe, benefits are more generous and last longer. The drawback to this generosity is that it reduces a worker’s incentive to quickly find a new job. Generous unemployment benefits in some European countries are widely believed to be one of the main causes of ‘Eurosclerosis,’ the persistent high unemployment that affects a number of European countries.”–”Macroeconomics” by Paul Krugman and Robin Wells, second edition, 2009.

Second, apparently MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry thinks the term “Obamacare” was coined by rich white guys as a racist slur against our sainted president. Or something. Shut up. Of course, if Obamacare worked, she might say something different. She’s too young to recall Ronald Reagan remarking, after the economy started booming, that “Liberals don’t call it ‘Reaganomics’ any more.”

Third, I know the mainstream media work overtime to come up with excuses for Obama, but: Seriously?

There are plenty of reasons this is the lowest point of Barack Obama’s presidency. He hasn’t fulfilled a major legislative campaign promise, his signature second-term immigration initiative is paralyzed, and the administration may never entirely recover from the unforced errors surrounding the Affordable Care Act’s rollout. But don’t blame these problems alone for Obama’s record-low 40 percent approval rating. In truth, his agenda went off the rails on a crisp December morning last year, when Adam Lanza strolled into Sandy Hook Elementary and killed 20 children and six adults. Obama hasn’t gotten back on track since.

How many mass shootings have there been over the last 25 years? Yes, I know, liberals think they happen every day, and in fact they are more rare–adjusted for population–than they were 75 years ago, but you get the point. Columbine (and Waco) didn’t sidetrack Bill Clinton’s presidency, nor did previous shootings (Aurora) seem to deflect Obama before Sandy Hook.

JOHN adds: Ms. Harris-Perry is way behind the times. The White House’s own web site calls it “Obamacare.”